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Narrated by Derek Jacobi
J. R. R. TolkienUnabridged — 7 hours, 42 minutes
Narrated by Derek Jacobi
J. R. R. TolkienUnabridged — 7 hours, 42 minutes
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Combined into one volume, this is the definitive collection of Tolkien's five acclaimed modern classic `fairie' tales in the vein of The Hobbit, read by Derek Jacobi.
The five tales are written with the same skill, quality and charm that made The Hobbit a classic. Largely overlooked because of their short lengths, they are finally together in a volume which reaffirms Tolkien's place as a master storyteller for readers young and old.
Taken together, this rich collection of tales from the author of The Children of Húrin will provide the reader with a fascinating journey into lands as wild and strange as Middle-earth.
Tolkien's tales are not just stories, they are a journey into the heart of fantasy and folklore. From the epic battles of Farmer Giles of Ham to the mythical adventures of Tom Bombadil, every tale is a testament to Tolkien's status as a classic Sunday Times bestselling author.
For fans of Andrzej Sapkowski (The Lady of the Lake), Frank Herbert (Dune), John Howe (A Middle-earth Traveller) and Robert Jordan (The Path Of Daggers).
Easily the most intriguing piece in the book is Tolkien’s famous essay ‘On Fairy Stories,’ in which he lays out his beliefs about creating ‘secondary worlds’ and explores the history, power and importance of stories some demean as ‘escapist.’…Tales From the Perilous Realm…reveals intriguing, little-known facets of Tolkien’s vast imagination.” –Daily Camera (Boulder) —
This collection of four of Tolkien's short works, dramatized for BBC Radio, is narrated by Sir Michael Hordern, who played Gandalf in the BBC dramatization of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The stories include "Farmer Giles of Ham," featuring Brian Blessed as an unlikely dragon hunter, and "Smith of Wootton Major," with Paul Copley as a young blacksmith who visits the faerie realm. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is a sequence from THE LORD OF THE RINGS not included in the BBC adaptation of that saga. The story will be familiar to Tolkien devotees, even though it’s not the cycle of poems from Tolkien's book, but it will likely confuse most listeners. The highlight of the set is "Leaf by Niggle," a beautiful allegory about art, life, and meaning, featuring Alfred Molina as a beleaguered artist and John Fleming as his neighbor. S.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2009 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
| BN ID: | 2940170241330 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins UK |
| Publication date: | 06/23/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 1,116,838 |
FAERIE is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold . . . The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. In that realm a man may, perhaps, count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very richness and strangeness tie the tongue of a traveller who would report them. And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many questions, lest the gates should be shut and the keys be lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien, from On Fairy-Stories, a lecture given on 8 March 1939. The full text is reproduced at the end of this book.
• • •
Once upon a time there was a little dog, and his name was Rover. He was very small, and very young, or he would have known better; and he was very happy playing in the garden in the sunshine with a yellow ball, or he would never have done what he did.
Not every old man with ragged trousers is a bad old man: some are bone-and-bottle men, and have little dogs of their own; and some are gardeners; and a few, a very few, are wizards prowling round on a holiday looking for something to do. This one was a wizard, the one that now walked into the story. He came wandering up the gardenpath in a ragged old coat, with an old pipe in his mouth, and an old green hat on his head. If Rover had not been so busy barking at the ball, he might have noticed the blue feather stuck in the back of the green hat, and then he would have suspected that the man was a wizard, as any other sensible little dog would; but he never saw the feather at all.
When the old man stooped down and picked up the ball – he was thinking of turning it into an orange, or even a bone or a piece of meat for Rover – Rover growled, and said:
‘Put it down!’ Without ever a ‘please’.
Of course the wizard, being a wizard, understood perfectly, and he answered back again:
‘Be quiet, silly!’ Without ever a ‘please’.
Then he put the ball in his pocket, just to tease the dog, and turned away. I am sorry to say that Rover immediately bit his trousers, and tore out quite a piece. Perhaps he also tore out a piece of the wizard. Anyway the old man suddenly turned round very angry and shouted:
‘Idiot! Go and be a toy!’
After that the most peculiar things began to happen. Rover was only a little dog to begin with, but he suddenly felt very much smaller. The grass seemed to grow monstrously tall and wave far above his head; and a long way away through the grass, like the sun rising through the trees of a forest, he could see the huge yellow ball, where the wizard had thrown it down again. He heard the gate click as the old man went out, but he could not see him. He tried to bark, but only a little tiny noise came out, too small for ordinary people to hear; and I don’t suppose even a dog would have noticed it.
So small had he become that I am sure, if a cat had come along just then, she would have thought Rover was a mouse, and would have eaten him. Tinker would. Tinker was the large black cat that lived in the same house.
At the very thought of Tinker, Rover began to feel thoroughly frightened; but cats were soon put right out of his mind. The garden about him suddenly vanished, and Rover felt himself whisked off, he didn’t know where. When the rush was over, he found he was in the dark, lying against a lot of hard things; and there he lay, in a stuffy box by the feel of it, very uncomfortably for a long while. He had nothing to eat or drink; but worst of all, he found he could not move. At first he thought this was because he was packed so tight, but afterwards he discovered that in the daytime he could only move very little, and with a great effort, and then only when no one was looking. Only after midnight could he walk and wag his tail, and a bit stiffly at that. He had become a toy. And because he had not said ‘please’ to the wizard, now all day long he had to sit up and beg. He was fixed like that.
